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Drone crash into crowd at Bull Run in VA

Discussion in 'Announcements' started by Scott Strimple, Aug 25, 2013.

  1. Matt Sharp

    Matt Sharp Member

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    I'd like to hear him finish that sentence. Not sure what was actually said in the interview, but what was shown in the clip is mind boggling.

    The worst part about it is that those of us who operate at the highest level of safety will most likely never have our voices heard. It's only the worst of the worst who will get the lead stories.
     
  2. Dave King

    Dave King Well-Known Member

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    NO training required huh?
     
  3. Steve Maller

    Steve Maller UAV Grief Counselor

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    As my friend and I always say to each other, "what could possibly go wrong?"
     
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  4. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
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    You mean "what could possibry go long?"
     
  5. Gary Haynes

    Gary Haynes Administrator
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    You assume some knowledge of the user in you saying. In this case it might be more like "what could possibly go right"
     
  6. James Adkins

    James Adkins Member

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    How does that saying go? - "training and education are what you forget, experience is what you remember"
     
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  7. Christopher Vo

    Christopher Vo New Member

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    my theory: if you look at the pictures taken beforehand, the compass unit is mounted backwards. with dji wookong, the compass/gps cable is supposed to face the front of the craft. the droidworx skyjib-8 uses orange markers on the rear booms, so you can tell that the compass is mounted in reverse relative to the aircraft's orientation. when this happens, any mode that relies heavily on magnetometer (such as IOC or RTL) will result in a crash. so it could be failsafe triggering RTL or Land/Hover. most likely, whoever put it together (perhaps when taking the octo out of the truck or hastily assembling before the event) was not careful and forgot that the arrow points the same way as the wire does. just flying it you wouldn't know that it was mounted backwards unless you are using a mode that involves compass like IOC, GPS hold, or RTL; it would fly just fine in Attitude or Acro mode.
     
  8. Brandon Loeser

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    Good eye Christopher! You're absolutely right. It is tough to say if they did or didn't "fix" that GPS before the flight but watching it I thought it was user error and not a battery issue. (Not that letting your batteries get that low isn't a user error but you know what I mean.)

    The way Wookong works is that you can use a 3 position switch to either: [Attitude / GPS / Manual] or [Attitude / GPS / Attitude]. If you switch to Attitude Mode (Stabilized Flight) from GPS Mode but accidentally go the wrong way, you'll be putting it Manual Mode!

    In Atti Mode or GPS, Wookong doesn't let the copter go past a 30 degree angle (I think) but in Manual Mode you can do flips very easily. I've seen it happen... but thankfully just on our little copters. I believe this is why Wookong now has the option to not go into Manual Mode at all. Watching the video the copter pitches right into the bleachers at more that a 30 degree angle. It could be a number of things but if they didn't fix that GPS, like Christopher pointed out, then that could be the cause.
     
  9. Paul conto

    Paul conto Member

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    The new firmware allows you to select what modes are for the switches so you can disable manual mode.
     
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  10. Brandon Loeser

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    Yes I know that... but did they? :)
     
  11. Paul conto

    Paul conto Member

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    I don't know but I will in November. I am their main pilot when I am stateside, currently on deployment, and we always used my bird for shots. they bought this bird just after I left so I never got the chance to look it over. When I do get back I am doing a full tear down, rebuild, and software upgrade to make sure this never happens again. I will also be training any other pilot they want to use when I am deployed. This wil all happen IF they stil have the bird when I get back.
     
  12. Howard Dapp

    Howard Dapp Active Member

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    Would be interested to see if Scott continues to offer RC aerial service after he told the reporter for CBS 6 news that he will not offer this service in the future and removed it from his site and deleted the images from his facebook page...hmm
     
  13. Shaun Stanton

    Shaun Stanton Active Member

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    Wow I won't let anyone touch my CS until I am thourugy confident in their judgement.
     
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  14. Shaun Stanton

    Shaun Stanton Active Member

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    It is possible that it was the battery. If the ESC's require calibration and were not done properly then this could have resulted in the shedding power incorrectly momentarily. Unfortunately dji dose not have data loving so the exact cause may not be known. Also if the ESC's were overheating then that could be issue as well and possibly explain the rapid bank. It banks then levels prior to the rapid decent. Electronics do wired things when the power starts being drained. Even though there are protections it is possible with the lack of understanding in how much throttle that was being required that the system started to load shed. Either way it was due to inexperienced pilots and crews not understanding the system.
     
  15. Shaun Stanton

    Shaun Stanton Active Member

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    My understanding is that if it went to fail safe it should have initiated an initial climb to 30 meters then to whatever it was programmed to do. Then attempt to try to fly back to launch point. This thing banked then lost altitude.
     
  16. Scott Hansen

    Scott Hansen New Member

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    Here I am come and get me!!! So my company above Digital Thunderome is the company in question above and the one I can see everyone and their Harvard Degree has commented on. First of all.

    I apologize. to all of you and UAV community. I come from the music video and movie world so the addition to drones to our industry has been huge and very exciting for my productions and hundreds of other movie productions in the past year. This accident has been a real set back on things obviously. I have been extremely instrumental with flying the first red cameras on drones and black magic cameras. I am not hiding, no one is being hunted by the police, lol. That was great to read that. An accident occurred at the Bull Run. I invest in the drone program at Digital Thunderdome. I personally don't fly, just not my thing because I produce and direct all of our productions, I hire pilots to fly for my productions and obviously we had a very serious accident. Our pilot who has flown many times made a grave mistake. That has been handled. I personally wasn't at the Bull Run, though my team of 3 was there with my Droidworx Octocopter. I think I have been very diligent and open to the public about the event and what happened, not to mention the FAA. The FAA has even applauded my actions in my cooperation and I have had many phone calls with them in Richmond. Not to mention the Pentagon had extreme interest on the situation. I've rented LCAT hovercrafts from the Pentagon for movie purposes before so I know them well over there. From the video I was told by our pilot, the batteries died out and he shouldn't have been flying over a crowd. Thats a huge no and always has been, why he went over the crowd is still a mystery to me, I mean who expects to go to a bull event and not get hit by a bull but a flying camera. We flown many successful times without any crashes. Even flying red cameras, thank god I didn't have the red out there that day.

    The pilot has been let go from our company. He has refused to be in contact with the press and FAA and that is his own doings, I told him personally the FAA will come and get you as they will if he does not comply with them. I have instructed him to come out of hiding because it would be great for the community if he did so. I can't make him do anything, I did my part and I have done many interviews on the subject. Not to mention I took care of the victims as well and met with them and made sure everything was ok, more press is bad press so the faster I could diffuse the situation, thats what I tried to do. thats all I'm going to say on that matter.

    So any questions or hate mail please address here and I will respond. In closing I really didn't think I should waste my time on even commenting on this forum but I decided too. I'm a huge advocate of the implementation of these devices for Commercial and hobby purposes and especially for movie productions. We just used the same UAV on my last movie and it was a huge success in getting massive production value with the device flying Red Cameras. Thanks for your time and I just wanted to let anyone know who cares that the situation was handled in a professional manner by me. yes the crash puts a huge damper on the whole industry but don't be a fool and think this will be the last. Millions of UAV's will be in the air by next year and many more crashes. I have spoken with the FAA about implementing a pilot license for UAVS. I think its needed for sure. Certificate of Airworthyness if a load of shit as we all know. Even when they do that on airplanes and prop planes, it's a spot check on the equipment and always half assed. Licenses are needed just like a pilot license for commercial aspects. Just my opinion. Thanks for your time.
     
  17. Scott Hansen

    Scott Hansen New Member

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    I will continue to fly for my own productions and movies. Damn right. I'm using it next week for pick up shots on a closed set. Commercially no, theres no point in any more risk
     
  18. Scott Hansen

    Scott Hansen New Member

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    your amazing man. Can't wait for you to get back. Your the only guy on here who has met me personally so you know how we work. Accidents happen and lessons are learned.
     
  19. Scott Hansen

    Scott Hansen New Member

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    you couldn't have stated it any better.
     
  20. Scott Hansen

    Scott Hansen New Member

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    Show that Reel off. haha I have replied to the entire thread above. Thanks Rich
     

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